Joseph Schloessberg Diaries Excerpts

Born in Koidanovo (now Dzerzhinsk), Belorussia, Russia, May 1, 1875; son of Max, a tailor, and Bessie (Feldman) Schlossberg; Jewish; married Anna Grossman on September 5, 1905; two children; emigrated to the United States in 1888 and, after attending the public schools of New York City for one year, began work as a cloakmaker in the New York City garment industry; while involved in the organization of garment workers during the 1890s, joined the Socialist Labor party and edited its Yiddish language journals, Das Abend Blatt, 189-1902 and Der Arbeiter, 1904-1911; attended the Columbia University School for Political Science, 1905-1907; supported a group of New York City tailors striking against the wishes of their parent organization, the United Garment Workers of America, in 1913, and led a secessionist movement that resulted in the organization of the United Brotherhood of Tailors (UBT); elected secretary of the New York Joint Board of the UBT; was one of the founders of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) in 1914 and elected general secretary-treasurer of the new organization; served as a fraternal delegate to the Congress for Labor Palestine, 1918, the International Congress of Clothing Workers, Copenhagen, 1920, and the Mexican Federation of Labor, Juarez, 1924; was a charter member of the National Labor Committee for Labor Israel and elected chairman in 1934; appointed to the New York City Board of Higher Education in 1935, serving until 1963; resigned union positions in 1940 to devote further time and effort to Zionist and communicty affairs; after the establishment of the State of Israel, joined the Histadrut, the Israel General Federation of Labor; was a director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Association for Jewish Education, and the Yiddish Scientific Institute; edited the ACWA weekly, Advance, for several years; authored The Workers and Their World (1935); died in New York City, January 15, 1971; Matthew Josephson, Sidney Hillman, Statesman of American Labor (1952); Erma Angevine, In League with the Future (1959); Joel Seidman, The Needle Trades (1942); Melech Epstein, Jewish Labor in the USA, 1914- 1952 (1953).